Record number of immigrants in the EU - Ukrainians in first place, even before the war

A record 3.7 million people became residents for the first time in the EU in 2023, this is the highest level since data collection began in 2013, according to an analysis by visualcapitalist.com.

Using Eurostat data, the cited source tracked the evolution of the number of residence permits issued for the first time to non-EU citizens in 2013, 2018 and 2023. The data for 2013 and 2018 are for the EU28 (i.e. including the United Kingdom), and for 2023 the figures for the EU27 (post-Brexit) are taken into account.

According to the aforementioned source, even before the Russian invasion in 2022, the largest group of people moving to the EU were Ukrainians - a trend that dates back to 2013. In fact, the peak of residence permits issued to Ukrainians was reached in 2015, a year after Russia's occupation of Crimea. In 2023, the number of permits fell to 307,313, down from 634,164 in 2018.

This decade-long migration to the West has led to a population decline within the country, visualcapitalist.com notes, noting that in 2023, Ukraine had 28% fewer inhabitants within its borders than when the Berlin Wall fell in 1990.

Other parts of Eastern Europe were also top sources of EU immigrants in 2023, including Belarus (281,279) and Russia (nearly 116,000). Asia is also seeing an increase in the number of citizens leaving for the EU, particularly India, which ranked seventh in 2013 and third in 2023 (207,966).

Meanwhile, residence permits have increased for migrants from Syria (168,667) and Afghanistan (90,118) - countries facing ongoing civil wars - as their living conditions have deteriorated.

• Over 6 million Ukrainian refugees spread across Europe

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has forced millions of people to flee their homes and seek refuge in the EU and neighboring countries.

No fewer than 6.168 million Ukrainian refugees were registered across Europe as of the end of July 2024, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Another 571,000 Ukrainians are exiled outside Europe, bringing the global total of this community to 6.74 million.

According to the cited source, the largest number of Ukrainian refugees is registered in the Russian Federation (1,227,555), followed by Germany (1,190,255) and Poland (957,505). The Czech Republic has 370,980, the United Kingdom 246,960, Spain 211,325, Italy 172,035, Romania 162,180, and Moldova 125,890.

At the same time, 3.7 million people are displaced within Ukraine's borders, according to the United Nations.

Ukraine had a population of 43.5 million in 2021, before the current conflict with Russia began in February 2022. Now, Ukraine has only 37.9 million inhabitants.